"Yes; you'll see her presently," I replied; "and you won't wonder that I like her better than all my other things."
I led the way at once by a footpath from the lodge across the sloping green meadow, then through a little tangled copse, and finally a short rocky descent to what was at Braycombe always styled the Cove. Not but that there were many coves on our beautiful indented coast, but this one was the most accessible on our grounds. The boat-house and the bathing-box were both here; and here, too, as being within easy reach, I had from earliest years climbed and scrambled and explored, until every stone was almost as familiar as the letters of my alphabet; and I could tell at what state of the tide certain rocks would be uncovered, and knew at a glance whether it would be safe to cross from one part to another on stepping-stones, or whether, to reach a given spot, we must go round by the side of the hill. How I loved, and do love, every foot of the ground, every stone, every rock, every silvery ripple of that the most charming of all possible play-grounds!
Thither, then, I led the way, Aleck following me closely, and George more slowly behind.
"There now," I cried, drawing up breathlessly as we gained our destination, "see, that's my boat-house." It was an exact miniature of the real boat-house, and Aleck stood transfixed with admiration looking at it; for of all things calculated for the amusement of children, nothing, I think, succeeds so well as real miniatures—imitations in proportion—of things which belong to the grown-up world. But the true kernel of the nut—the jewel of the case—was the elegant little model yacht, which I presently drew forth from her moorings within.
"Now that's the 'Fair Alice,'" I continued; "isn't she lovely?"
"Awfully jolly," Aleck replied, after gazing for a moment in speechless admiration. "I never saw anything half so nice before! Oh, if only we were small enough to get into it! Just look how beautifully the deck is made—I can see all the little timbers; and the mast, it's nearly as high as I am; and those little pulleys—oh, how perfect they are!"
"You must see her with all her sails set, a-scudding before the breeze, Master Gordon," said George, overtaking us. "I reckon there's not a craft of her size that would beat her for speed."
"Can you do the sails?" my cousin asked me, regardless of nautical phraseology.
"Master Willie! he knows as much as a sailor born about reefing and unreefing the sails," said George, answering for me.
"Then please do let us sail her at once. I do long to see her on the water," begged Aleck.